Issue date: 12/4/09 Section: Sports

Red-shirt freshman forward James Hollowell takes a shot during practice in Lantz Arena on Tuesday afternoon. The Panthers defeated Tennessee State 83-81 in triple overtime Thursday at the Gentry Center in Nashville, Tenn. (Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

The Eastern men's basketball team played an extra 15 minutes Thursday in its Ohio Valley Conference opener at Tennessee State, but it was worth it as the Panthers won a three-overtime thriller 83-81.

The Tigers (2-6, 0-1 OVC) led by as many as nine points with under two minutes left in the second overtime, but junior guard Curry McKinney stole two inbound passes with under a minute to go as the Panthers came roaring back.

They sent the game to a third overtime when junior guard Tyler Laser hit a runner with three seconds left to tie the game at 75.

"It was unbelievable, the turns that game took," Eastern head coach Mike Miller told WEIU-FM after the game. "The biggest thing I can say about this is we stayed with it. We kept battling, we went down, we kept coming back. That's the big thing I think that will help us in the weeks ahead."

Senior guard T.J. Marion put the Panthers ahead for good on a lay-up with 18 seconds remaining in the third overtime to give them an 83-79 lead. The Tigers scored at the buzzer, but Eastern (4-2, 1-0) held on for the win.

Senior center Ousmane Cisse hit two free throws with 30 seconds left in the first overtime to tie the game at 57, but the Tigers could not respond forcing the game to go into a second overtime.

After trailing by four with less than two minutes remaining at the end of regulation, Laser gave the Panthers a 51-49 lead with 12 seconds remaining with a three.

Tigers' senior forward Lonnie Funderburke scored with five seconds left to tie the game at 51, and Laser missed a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Eastern led 28-24 at half with zero bench points. The Panthers finished with 11 bench points.

"We have a lot of things we need to clean up, but it is much easier to do that after a win," Miller said.

Senior forward Edin Suljic led the Panthers with 25 points, going 10-of-13 from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds, both career highs. Cisse had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out in the second overtime.

Senior guard Jeremiah Crutcher led the Tigers with 21 points, while freshman forward Robert Covington finished with 17.

It was the second longest game in Eastern history. The only game that was longer was a four overtime 126-121 loss at Northern Iowa Jan. 30, 1988.

The last game that went past one overtime was in 2000.

The Panthers will continue conference play at 7 p.m. Saturday when they travel to Clarksville, Tenn., to take on Austin Peay (4-4, 1-0).

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or dscusack@eiu.edu.

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